The Fun Police really misinterpreted this. This is not saying anything about how good or bad LD is. I was just expecting something more like what TAS was to TOS. Other than the fact that TAS episodes were half the length and that the animated nature allowed them to afford to depict more exotic things like underwater scenes and six-limbed bridge crew members, TOS/TAS were mostly the same. They had roughly the same degree of adventure, philosophy, humor, etc. On the other hand, LD targeted a different audience by focusing on qualities that had not been prioritized in any earlier series. I was just disappointed by how different LD is from TAS.
Similarly, Steam has some option about “adult only games” that doesn’t seem to mean “you don’t have to keep asking me my birthday for ‘grim’ games”, i.e. games you have to verify you’re an adult to see, instead it seems to mean “show me porn games”.
This kind of bowdlerised English or whatever it’s called is usually weird and confusing to us non-natives. Like, it’s apparently OK to have the puerile stuff, you just can’t be normal about it?
“Adult” doesn’t imply genital stuff to the rest of us, USA.
Dude, TAS was set on the flagship of the fleet, LD is set on a B grade tow truck.
They are not the same
Someone’s funny bone got eaten by Moopsy
I think you’re missing the context of ALL the adult animation shows that came before it, because Lower Decks does something special in that category. LD takes the typical adult animation sitcom and mixes in the optimism and character writing from the best Star Trek shows, and it does this quite well. (By the way, they tone down the Rick and Morty stuff after the first few episodes, so don’t get discouraged if that’s what’s bothering you).
No one misinterpreted your original post. It was sarcastic and dismissive, so people responded with that same energy.
As to the edit, I think it’s good that the new Trek shows each have such distinct personalities. They won’t all appeal to everyone, but the overall diversity is a strength. Part of what killed Star Trek in the 2000s was that TNG, Voyager, and Enterprise had all stuck to a very consistent approach. After close to twenty years, it was inevitably feeling a bit stale.
It was sarcastic and dismissive
So, yes, you misinterpreted it. Maybe that is how it came off to you, but that was not my intent. Whoops! I tried to find a Lower Decks gif that best portrayed “disappointment” without also portraying anything like “disgust”.
Careful up there on your high horse
Sorry you can’t enjoy something if you think it’s childish. Your life must be awful.
i love lower decks but that’s in spite of and not because of the “adult humor.” the jokes that make me laugh- which is most of them!- would be exactly the same if it was an all ages program on Nickelodeon like Prodigy. the good does ultimately outweigh the bad, and signifigantly so, i just think it was a missed opportunity. i was pretty young when i watched TNG and TOS with my parents and probably would’ve gotten a huge kick out of LD
apparently tawney newsome is gonna be writing on the starfleet academy show so that might end up being The Best of Both Worlds (Parts I and II) between all-ages trek and funny trek
The difference is really just the profanity because even cartoons made for children tend to have violence and toilet humor.
Let me lead with this: I’ve also grown tired of the samieness of adult animation genre. Rick & Morty was alright for a while, but that ship was basically sailed for me by the time other shows started jumping on the trend. I appreciate what R&M/Adult Swim did in opening up the field for animation to be taken more seriously in the pitch room, we’ll probably have an entire generation of decent media because of that, but we’ve kind of hit the trough of this first wave. That said, I liked Lower Decks a lot, because it kind of got rid of the high-stakes high-adventure selling point and zoomed in on the stakes and adventures that every day, non-galaxy class Starfleet crews can get into. It’s DS9 but with the adult animation vibe instead of the daytime TV soap opera vibe. I love the introduction of the Cali class ships that are just sort of your regular, everyday, multi-role ships. I love that the Cali fleet and the Cerritos are largely just focused on the normal, unglamorous stuff that has to happen in the background while the really cool people and ships do cool stuff in space.
I also liked that the permission to be goofy and work with low stakes felt like it gave Star Trek the room it needs to breathe. It’s hard to do serious new Trek that meaningfully expands the canon while also respecting what came before, which, I think, is why we tend to get a higher ratio of prequels. It’s just easier and safer to stay within the bounds of the canon and tell Captain Pike’s story (I fucking love SNW, not dissing it). Case and point for new Trek, you’ve got Discovery, which I haven’t really enjoyed because it very much feels like it doesn’t have room to breathe and/or was written by focus groups. Maybe it gets better later, but I watched the first two episodes and found it less enjoyable than auditing lectures. LD’s characters and premise felt much more interesting by comparison, and I’ve really enjoyed the storytelling. It’s not perfect Trek, but I think it’s a show that largely knew itself and focused on trying to be the best version of what it was, and that’s what’s going to make it hard to beat.
“Written by focus groups” is a really well worded way to say that without sounding like a reactionary, well done. Disco never clicked for me, LD and SNW are fucking great though.
You wanted Lower Decks to be more boring? I like a good conference room scene as much as the next Trekkie, but they only had 22 minutes to work with!
Ah, you added context. I fail to see however how you think your title was meant to convey “I thought it would be standard Star Trek, but animated so I was disappointed because my expectation was different”.
Also lots of underwear
That’s kinda how I feel about the majority of adult cartoons outside of shows like King of The Hill that feel more down to Earth in a way and less like a full-on highschool level comedy. I personally don’t like adult animation usually as a rule because of shows like family guy, robot chicken, and such. There are definitely a very small few exceptions like KoTH or Futurama, but in general those types of shows just weren’t made for people like me.
Have you seen Bojack? It’s more animated show than cartoon.
it’s the first Trek comedy
that’s it!
That movie is a masterwork of dramatic, whale-based storytelling. How very dare you.
Well, double dumb ass on you!
My friend did a little too much LDS in the Sixties.
Was it while he was working on the nuclear wessels?